The DawgBlawg is the Seattle P-I's blog for news and opinions about the University of Washington and its athletic programs. Obviously, our main point of emphasis will be football and basketball. If you're a Dawg fan, welcome aboard the blog, if you're a Cougar or Duck, we're sorry to hear that.

Monday Morning Longsnapper – Part II

It’s been obvious all year long that the Hawaii game was a bad matchup for UW but it seems particularly daunting at this point of the season. The Huskies have very little to play for and the Warriors have everything to play for, including a BCS game and a Heisman Trophy.

Their strength (passing) is our weakness (defending it). It’s got the look of an ugly game but the spread is only 10 points. If you’re a bettor, bet the ranch on the Warriors with that point spread.

The worst part about this for UW is that the entire country will be watching. I’ll give you my prediction early this week: Hawaii 54, UW 37. How bad is the defense when we are predicting blowout losses to WAC teams?

The Toughest Job In Football

Some people would say that the cornerback position is the toughest job in football. Of course, some people would reply that the quarterback position is tougher but we can debate that on a different day.

For today, I want to talk about the cornerbacks in context of why it’s important to blitz occasionally and how it pertains to the Apple Cup.

Some people would say that we can’t blitz because our cornerbacks can’t cover one-on-one. I’m beginning to believe just the opposite. We have to blitz to hide our coverage deficiencies.

When a QB like WSU’s Alex Brink or Arizona’s Willie Tuitama has over 5 seconds to calmly survey the secondary, he’s going to find an open receiver every time. When he has an ounce of pressure, he’ll make a hurried throw. And, when he’s pressured, he makes shorter throws to the check-down receiver instead of hitting long bombs.

Here’s the million dollar question: would you rather have a mediocre CB covering for 2-4 seconds or a good CB covering for 6-7 seconds? Believe it or not, there’s a huge difference in those 2 seconds. In most situations, I’ll take the shorter period of time.

And, if the definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results then the Husky defensive coaches are insane. The Apple Cup looked exactly like the Arizona game.

What will happen next Monday and thereafter?

The end of the regular season is only 6 days away which means that the silly season is about to begin. What will happen? Remember, I’m talking about what I think will happen, not what I want to happen.

There is a group of Husky fans clamoring for Jim Mora to be the next Husky coach. While I respect their opinion and think Mora is an outstanding coach, the chances of that happening this year are slim.

I still believe that UW AD Todd Turner is a staunch supporter of Coach Willingham. I think it’s highly unlikely that there is a change at the head coaching position.

What about UW Defensive Coordinator Kent Baer? It seems like a foregone conclusion that there will be a change at the Defensive Coordinator position. However, I think it’s 50/50 at best that Baer resigns or is fired. Seriously, I think it’s still up in the air. Don’t forget how tight Bear and Willingham are.

And, what about Turner? Is his job in jeopardy? No way. I’d be shocked if any change was made at the AD level. He has a few mulligans in his bag.

Ultimately, I think this is the offseason where serious metrics will be set. So, the good news for those asking for change is that it might set up something to happen after next season. That isn’t what the legion of Mora supporters wanted to hear.

Like I said, I’m not saying what I want to happen but rather what I think will happen.

Notes

- As I mentioned in my post last Wednesday, I got Seattle P-I columnist Jim Moore to agree to wear Jordan Reffett’s #95 jersey to the UW and Seattle Seahawks press conference on Monday because he lost our bet on this season’s prediction contest. However, I just got an email from Jim that he’s going to be in Pullman on Monday. Could it be for a press conference? We’ll have to reschedule the payoff…….

- A reader sent me an email and asked an interesting question. I don’t know that I have a good answer so I’m going to throw the question out to all of you and see what you think.

What was a tougher rebuilding job: Lorenzo Romar’s task of rebuilding Washington hoops or Ty’s job with the football team?

- UW QB Jake Locker needs 90 rushing yards against Hawaii to get 1,000 yards for the season. I bet he gets it easily.

Pac-10 Competency Rankings

1. USC – Back at the top of the rankings. Unbelievable. What a season.

2. Arizona State – Still in the second slot after getting the woodshed treatment by the Trojans.

3. Oregon State – Looking good for the Civil War but the Ducks season is already ruined.

4. Cal – At least they are still playing a first string QB.

5. Arizona – Can you believe these guys are the 5th best team in the Pac-10? They’ve beaten Oregon and UCLA in the past couple of weeks.

6. UCLA – Still swinging for the Rose Bowl – even though they had to play a 4th string QB for part of the game on Saturday.

7. Oregon – If they are lucky, they’ll get to go bowling in Vegas.

8. Washington State – Kent Baer made it on to Bill Doba’s Christmas card list.

9. Washington – Oh well, at least, we’re still better than Stanford.

10. Stanford – What’s more embarrassing? Losing to UW or losing to ND?

Stat Of The Week

Scott Eklund from Dawgman posted that Washington is 1-8 against the NW teams under Willingham. That stat just sticks in your craw.

Quote Of The Week

“We just blew the coverage. Our communication was not good, not complete across the board. We had some guys playing one thing and some playing something else.” – Tyrone Willingham talking about WSU’s final touchdown. That quote just sticks in your craw. However, I think it’s good that Willingham shielded UW DB Nate Williams – who was blitzing when he shouldn’t have been – from criticism.